Good post debunking the whole resale value thing. One other factor that's never factored into depreciation discussions is the time value of money. If you had 15k-20k to spend on a bike but instead of a Harley or BMW, you only spent 8k on a Suzuki Bandit 1200, you've got 7k to 12k earning something. (Or that you're not paying interest on.)Over a few years, this adds up and goes a long way toward offsetting differences in depreciation.